With teachers like this is it any wonder that I am as unconventional as I am?

Fifty miles northwest of Alaska's largest city, the roadless hills and boggy swamps of the Yentna River Valley have for years hidden the secret of bear man Charlie Vandergaw.

What goes on each summer at Vandergaw's remote homestead is so far from the ordinary as to be almost unbelievable. Visitors tell of him petting black and brown bears, playing with grizzly cubs while sows stand by, sitting on bears and teaching them tricks. His own photographs show even more. They capture him easing to within feet of breeding grizzlies and nursing an injured brown bear.

Charlie Vandergaw was my high school science teacher. He was a great guy whose identical twin brother, Glen Vandergaw my math teacher, was his polar opposite. Charlie was a great guy who loved talking about science and used to come into the weight room, where I spent much of my after school time, and always bench press exactly ten more pounds then I could bench. He did that many times, no matter how strong I became he always lifted just ten extra pounds never letting on just how strong he actually was.

I had teachers who raised dog sled teams, some were ex-Olympic athletes, and others spent their summers on fishing boats braving the most dangerous seas in the world. They were some very colorful people and they gave me an eclectic and interesting education, which I still treasure.

I have not seen Charlie in almost thirty years now, it is nice to see that he is still teaching us all something.